Doncaster health trust rated as ‘good’

David Kessen

Official watchdogs have rated one of Doncaster’s NHS trusts as ‘good’, more than a year after raising concerns over it.

But it is still being told it must improve community-based mental health services for adults.

After being re-assessed by inspectors from the Care Quality Commission, Rotherham Doncaster and South Humber NHS Foundation Trust (RDaSH) received the overall rating of ‘good’ as well as a rating of good in all five categories of the inspection – which are: safe, effective, responsive, caring and well-led.

The re-inspection, which was carried out over a number of days in September and October last year, took place after RDaSH’s previous CQC inspection in 2015 rated the organisation as ‘requires improvement.’

On the recent visit inspectors found areas of good practice, which included patients in Doncaster working with staff from the Learning Disability Community Team and local GP practices to look at how easy it was to access the ‘choose and book’ service.

However, inspectors rated community-based mental health services for adults of working age as ‘requires improvement’ due to the quality of risk management, care plans and not fully complying with mandatory training. Action is already under way to improve these areas.

Dr Deb Wildgoose, Director of Nursing and Quality, said: “This is a really good overall rating and our staff have worked incredibly hard to achieve this.

“However, we will not be resting on our laurels. We know that we still have areas that our trust needs to improve and enhance and staff, supported by managers, are working really hard to make those changes happen.

“The trust will, as always, continue to work hard to deliver the best services possible, keeping patients, their families and carers at the heart of our care.”

From today the full inspectors report into the trust can be viewed online on the Care Quality Commission’s website by logging on to http://www.cqc.org.uk/provider/RXE.